There’s really nothing that’s quite as easy as propagating succulents. It’s just a waiting game, and regardless of whether you start with a single leaf or a whole rosette, very few plants will display “the will to live” like a succulent will. If you’re impatient, you’ll invariably fail; but with a little patience, succulents will always aim to live rather than die, so long as you start with a good cutting.
Above, you have leaf cuttings–just one healthy leaf plucked off from the plant (or in some cases, it dropped off by accident because I brushed it up against something or the pot fell over). It’s a fact that not all leaf cuttings will grow a new plant and additionally, not all leaf cuttings that root will grow a new plant (they will just grow roots). Since the objective of growing any cutting is to create a new plant, it’s always best to attempt propagating a few leaves rather than just one. That said, it’s not like I go and pluck off many leaves for no reason, but if a friend wants a plant and I can’t bear to prune my main plant, then a leaf cutting will suffice, though it will take considerably longer.
Echeveria ‘Perle Von Nürnberg’ — beheaded to propagate
Beheading a succulent is always going to be more reliable and successful than a leaf cutting. Most of the time when I behead a singular rosette like this, it’s because it’s grown taller in the stem area than I want, and I want to create multiple plants from this single plant. Whenever possible, I like to leave about a 2-3 cm stem with the bottom and snip off the top with at least a centimeter of stem on the rosette.
Echeveria ‘Perle Von Nürnberg’ rosette — chopped off
In many cases, I will take a rosette as shown above and tear off a couple of the bottom leaves–especially if I couldn’t cut a long enough stem. Obviously, taking off a couple more leaves will increase the surface area and length of the stem. Since Echeveria will throw out roots from the points where the leaf originally attached to the stem, this will encourage rooting. In this case, I did not tear off any leaves from this plant because you can see the previous junctions where leaves were already torn off and with a healthy stem, it was basically guaranteed to grow.
I want just enough stem left on the rosette to stick into soil. I use any type of soil for propagating, but in many cases, I find that a completely dry peat-based soil will encourage roots faster, whereas a grittier mix of rocks and such will create better (whiter and cleaner) roots. More often than not, I will always choose to root in a gritty mix, but for the purpose of this post, I deliberately chose a peat mix (Pro-Mix HP, in this case). I tend to just choose whatever I have on hand. The only thing that really matters is that you keep the soil dry. It should start dry and remain dry; the only access to moisture the cutting itself will have is the humidity in the air.
I cannot emphasize this enough. Watering a rootless plant with a freshly cut stem will increase the chances of the stem rotting exponentially!
Beheading echeveria — propagation techniques
Personally, with the bottom portion of this Echeveria, whether I water or not depends on whether the pot it’s in currently is where it started. If it’s where it started, I’ll continue watering lightly starting this moment and over the next month–maybe once a week like I do with my succulents, keeping in mind that I use a very porous and rocky mix that doesn’t hold water. (If you are using peat, then once every 2-3 weeks would be the most you’d water anyway.) If it’s newly potted, I will keep it dry for a week, and after that week, I’ll begin watering on the same schedule.
The rosette will lose a few bottom leaves in most cases. I’ve had some tops root without any leaf loss but never a ‘Perle Von Nürnberg.’ This is also another reason not to pull off bottom leaves; if you know that the plant you’re propagating tends to lose leaves while being propagated, leave the bottom leaves on.
Roots, at last! (Photo taken on 10/14)
Depending on what you’re propagating, roots will begin growing out of the stem in about 1-4 weeks usually. The variety tends to determine how long this will take, and then the season, weather and other conditions surely contribute. In this Echeveria’s case, it took one week to see nubs of roots form, and another week to show actual roots emerge. The photo above is 19 days post beheading, meaning that in 19 days, the plant has fully begun rooting itself. For the purpose of this post, I’ve been lifting it a lot to see how it’s doing, but I highly suggest that you do not do that. With every movement and lift, you could be setting the plant back. This was why I chose the Pro-Mix HP; lifting it this often out of gritty mix will damage the roots more than lifting it out of dry peat-based mix which is fluffy and non-abrasive. Note the soil in the background–it’s never been watered up to this point.
In about a week plus, I will begin watering this particular rosette. It still has enough to continue growing for a good while, but if I hold water much longer than that, it’ll begin to use the moisture it its own leaves to grow on top and die on bottom….that’s not what I want.
The bottom of the beheaded Echeveria ‘Perle Von Nürnberg’
What’s the bottom doing?
Well, in that same amount of time, not much. Every red dot you see on that stem is new growth emerging, and once they grow into real leaves, the growth rate will speed up. But until then, it’s almost always slower than the top. While there’s less risk with the bottom (since the top may not root), you do spend more time looking at nubs than anything resembling a plant.
Eventually, it grows.
A different stem — Graptoveria ‘Debbie’
This is what will most likely happen to the stem portion.
In rare cases, I’ve gotten one rosette grown as a new plant but more often than not, the stem will grow MANY rosettes. Each one will grow big enough to be cut off the stem and propagated in the same way the rosette above was planted, but until then, they grow in a cluster like this. You end up with many plants of the same kind, but because they’re all squashed up together like this, you’ll find that the majority of your rosettes are a little less symmetrical than one grown on its own.
Crassula capitella ‘Campfire’
These little cuttings of Crassula capitella called ‘Campfire’ are no different. They’re snipped off the mother plant and in this case, I did rip off the bottom two leaves of each cutting. Then, you stick them in soil and watch them grow. Unlike many Echeveria, these cuttings will root faster and grow faster. They’re also not as sensitive to being watered, since they do root easily and begin using the water instead of remaining in wet soil and rotting.
Graptopetalum paraguayense — aka “Ghost Plant”
One of the easiest plants to propagate, and also one of the best and prettiest succulents in my opinion, is Graptopetalum paraguayense ‘Ghosty’ — or otherwise known as “Ghosty” or just ghost plant. These are some of the fastest and most prolific growers, and super easy, too. Because these tend to trail, there’s a lot of stem to work with and the rosettes will often root within days. Similarly, the leaf cuttings will also want to root fast. Given that visitors love this plant, they’re great ones to propagate so as to have plenty available to give away. I have pots and pots of ghost plants going at all times during the spring and fall. Cold tolerance is impressive on this one, too; they seem to not miss a beat even down to 20 degrees!
Echeveria moranii
This is another Echeveria that will root fast when you behead a stem. In this case, it was an offset that I snipped off early and it’s now nicely rooted in its own pot. The leaves on this one don’t root quite as fast, but with time, they will all become little plants of their own.
Sometimes, new plants will form long before the roots emerge. In leaf cuttings like the above, this is almost always the case with this particular Echeveria, though I don’t know why. Almost all of its leaves will form bodies before roots, but left alone, the roots will always emerge.
There’s also no guarantee that one body will form at the end of a leaf cutting. In this case, this is a Graptosedum and it has a tendency to form multiple heads with leaf cuttings. The white rocks you see are pieces of perlite, and if I wanted to, I could cut the adult leaf off at this point to plant up the multiple babies since it has enough roots to sustain itself. This particular succulent is also a really prolific grower, forming lots of trailing heads everywhere.
Echeveria melaco — tons of cuttings
Possibly more prolific than the ghost plant is probably Echeveria melaco–primarily because of its growth habit. They offset all day long, and every little rosette you see on the plant can be snipped off and rooted on their own; all the little rosettes you see toward the bottom half of the photo were grown just like that off the main plant in the top half of the photo. I have more pots of these rosettes growing. In bright sun, they turn a striking brown or olive green color and in lesser sun like it’s getting now due to the fall weather, the plant grows a little greener toward the stem. You can also see a stem and some leaves in this pot.
How to Propagate Leaf Cuttings
How to propagate leaf cuttings
So, here’s a tip.
When propagating leaf cuttings, one of the best ways to do this is using a pot as shown above.
What you see on top is perlite (the link will show the perlite I use–best and most cost effective overall), but what you don’t see if the Pro-Mix HP that I laid on the bottom of the pot. Once I have the leaf cuttings I want to propagate, I’ll take any pot that is shallow (this is actually just a pot tray, about 1.5 inches deep/tall), drill some holes in the bottom and lay about 1/2″ of regular potting mix of some kind. Then, I water that mix in thoroughly until it’s drenched. The remaining 1″ of the tray is filled with plain perlite — completely dry. It’s on top of this perlite that you lay your leaf cuttings.
The reason I do this is because perlite won’t hold much water, thereby always keeping the cuttings dry. However, roots will grow out and look for water to live–and there’s moist potting mix below the perlite. This will naturally make roots head south into the perlite and if they grow long enough, they’ll find water. Additionally, because the perlite is on top of the mix, it won’t dry out as quickly, and when you water this pot, the water will flow through the perlite, soak the mix and drain out the bottom. The perlite on top will dry fast and not remain wet, which will easily prevent rot in your leaves.
Leaf Cuttings – Picture A
Leaf Cuttings – Picture B
If you look at picture A and B above, you’ll see the difference in growth habit as the leaves root. In picture A where I use moist potting mix below dry perlite, the roots head south nearly automatically. In picture B where the leaves are laid atop dry potting mix, you can see root when they grow out. In the majority of cases, they’ll head into the soil, too, but this pot of leaf cuttings cannot be accidentally watered or kept moist in any fashion or these leaves will most likely fail, or rot. If you accept that roots go looking for water, then you can begin to understand why having moist potting mix at the bottom of the pot will encourage roots to go south.
My problem is that once they do this, since I don’t label any leaf cuttings (who has time for that??), I rarely know what plant the leaf came off of. In the case of ‘Debbie,’ they are easy to tell because I’ve done it so often, but in other cases — I’m at a complete loss until it grows much larger and I recognize which plant was the mother plant.
How to Pot Up Babies Grown on Leaves
Potting up succulent leaf cuttings
Once my new plants at the ends of leaf cuttings begin growing into a decently sized new plant, I pot them up separately. Sometimes, I will use a larger pot and stick many of them in the same pot, but in the above case, I want to create a single rosette, individual plant in each 1.5″ pot.
You carefully pull up the plant from the large basket–and this is easier when it’s all perlite on top–and then if you have any potting mix on the roots, tap it off. In most cases, if you used a deep enough pot, no potting mix will have touched the roots just yet. Then, I take a very rocky mix as shown above (and what you’re seeing there is the actual soil it’s in!), and carefully lay the roots in the mix and top off the pot so balance the leaf in a way that the new plant body is nicely placed into the mix.
As the little “plantlet” grows, it will eventually use up any energy left in the parent leaf and begin relying on the mix to live. That is when you begin watering and fertilizing the new plant. If you’re using a mix like this one, you can be much freer about water at about this point, but if in peat, never water until the parent leaf is good and dead. The second from the top plant shows a leaf that is rapidly dying after creating a little baby plant; it’s a week away from being dead, but do not water until it’s completely dead. At that point, it will easily pluck off the baby plant or in some cases, the plant will simply discard the leaf from itself.
There are some exceptions. Sometimes, the mother leaf won’t die. In many such cases, it’s because I started watering and fertilizing the little plant and the mother didn’t need to give up its own energy to grow the little plant. In other cases, that’s just the way it is. I have had many occasions where I’ve needed to snip off the mother leaf from the little baby, and as long as you’re careful to not damage the baby, it’s not a big deal at all. If you look at the top left plant above, the baby is substantial in size and the mother leaf looks nearly brand new. There’s a good chance that plant will be one of those cases where I’ll have to snip off the mother leaf.
Almost all succulents can be propagated via cuttings, especially using the beheading method. Many succulent leaves will root and grow a new plant, but not all. For example, many Aeonium leaves will not root; they’ll just wither up and eventually die. However, Aeonium stem cuttings excel at growing, as shown above in the bright pink and green one–those were just stems off the bigger plant, stuck into soil. You have to wait a considerable amount of time for them to actually root, but in most cases, I find that Aeonium will grow before they actually root. This particular variety is Aeonium ‘Kiwi’ grown in nice sun.
If you buy one variety of a succulent, there’s a good chance that over time, you will get the opportunity to grow many of the same kind. It’s a fantastic way to share plants with friends, or sell them, or simply create a large grouping of the same plant, which is always striking. In my case, I plant a lot of cuttings into the ground to fill a bed at the front of my house, and others I will plant up and give away or create a pot full of different cuttings to take to someone’s house as a housewarming. Lots of my friends have gotten into plants this way–and there really is very little as satisfying as sharing plants you grew yourself with others.
Give it a whirl and post below if you have any questions!
Grace,
Very informative. Thank you!
Jill
Austin, Tx
Hey Grace!
So I have some succulent leaves that I’ve been propagating for a while now using the layer of perlite on top of soil. Boy is it working well! They’re growing some pretty long roots (about half an inch) and have the smallest little leaves just beginning to grow (about the size of the head of a pin). When should I pot them up? Any tips for this process?
In addition, I wanted to ask about some leaves that haven’t grown roots yet. They are withering a little and have gone a bit pale in color, but they definitely haven’t died yet. They just appear to be sitting there. Do you think these still have a shot of growing? And why would they be going pale like that?
Thank you so much, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!
Hi Kaitlin!
Usually I’ll wait until the original leaf dries up and dies, in which case it falls right off the new baby easily. Basically, at any point when you’re sure you can take off the parent without harming the pup, you’re good to go.
The other ones you’re trying to start don’t sound good. They will probably just meet their maker like that. I’ve had a few — like maybe three at most — where even near dead looking ones finally threw a baby, but most that don’t take just die like that. Could be for many reasons….like what variety is it? Have you propagated it before? And reason #1 is did you really get the full leave including the very end off cleanly and fully, if it’s a leaf you know will propagate from a leaf?
Enjoy! I hope that helps!
Hi again Grace!
Thank you so much for the info! This is my first time propagating succulents, so your advice is so helpful!
Another quick question about potting the ones that are growing–the roots are getting to the point that they are reaching through the perlite and are nearly touching the potting soil below. Should I go ahead and let them start burrowing into the soil on their own, or try to keep them from making contact until their leaves get a bit more established?
To answer your question, I am not sure exactly what the variety is. I’ve been trying to ID it online and I think it is some sort of jelly bean succulent, most likely sedum rubrotinctum or pachyphyllum. I am certain that I was able to get the entire leaf from the stem when I took them from the mother plant. Since they are a different variety than the ones that are currently sprouting roots, I was hoping that they might just be taking longer to throw out new roots. I did have one that looked like it was throwing out a tiny root, but it turned brown after about a week and shriveled up. The others of this variety have had no change, besides a slight withering and going paler than their normal green. Their ends where they were attached to the stem have calloused over but look like the “scab” is brown. Do you think there is any hope for them, and anything I could do to maybe help them along?
Again thank you incredibly much Grace, I very much appreciate it!
You know, Kaitlin, I have succeeded at propagating those jellybean type sedums or pachyphyllum by the leaf only a couple of times and both times was when I stuck the entire bottom half of the body into soil. But keep in mind that’s twice out of maybe 10+ attempts with bodies stuck in soil. By laying on top of any substrate, I don’t believe I have ever succeeded–but I haven’t had all that many varieties–maybe 2-3 kinds. By the stem, they are simple though a couple of varieties have taken a long, long time of sitting there and not growing before sprouting a new leaf, but always successful. BPachyveria, however, work by the leaf about half of the time. I had a ‘Blue Pearl’ and a couple of others that did successfully grow a new body from a single leaf though the other half basically melted down to mush. Perhaps it being mixed up with echeveria makes them easier to propagate?
So if I were a bettin’ kind of girl (which I am), I’ll put $5 on dead. 🙂 But there’s no harm at all in waiting, is there?
Whether or not you let them grow into the soil depends on what they’re coexisting with right now. If they’re all potted separately, it’s not a big deal if you let them grow there in its spot. But I lift mine out early only because most of the time when I propagate, I have many (like 50-100) leaves in a pot, so if I want to start watering one or fertilizing, etc. then it’s easier for me to repot it, especially if I want to start putting that one into full sun or different conditions. Also, when you’ve used perlite on top of soil, keep in mind it’s harder to pull up without some damage than lightly lifting up out of plain perlite. I always use a little teaspoon to lift up the soil with it, get it all off and then put into a gritty mix of sorts.
Sorry I can’t be of more help w/ the nonstarters!
That is incredibly helpful Grace! I appreciate the insight! So if you were in my position, would you bury the bodies of the jellybean leaves in the soil, or just let them sit on top and hope for the best? Again thanks so much for your insight, I appreciate it
This is the most thorough piece I’ve read on the topic. Thank you! I too have a question about mine. I have some leaf cuttings that have grown substantial roots so far, but no new plants yet. They are currently lying on a tray sans perlite or soil (didn’t know about this requirement). It’s been a few weeks. Will putting them on top of soil or perlite make the baby plants appear? I believe it’s some type of Echeveria but I’m not sure. Also, if I accidentally planted another leaf cutting (totally different species of succulent) before a baby plant appeared, will taking it out of the soil make it grow a plant? If not, is there a chance it will still grow a baby plant?
Also, one of the the Echeveria leaves has not dried out or grown a baby, but the roots are turning brown which I guess might mean that they’re drying out. What should I do?
Hi Katie, sorry for my very late reply. I’ve been swamped lately.
What I show in this post is how I have found to work best, but it’s by no means the only way. Having no soil can just as easily work for the right leaf cutting. If you don’t have the right plant or perfect leaf cutting, laying it on gold isn’t going to produce any babies either. 🙂
With the one you already planted (and given that your comment is from September, I suspect it either produced a pup or met its maker by now), the key concern is keeping it dry. Once you “plant” a leaf and let it have moisture when it doesn’t have anything to feed or feed with (roots), it will rot and turn to mush.
Hi, I have succulent leaves growing on cactus mix. Growing roots. Is there a specific direction to lay the leaves? Curves up or curve down? Does it matter? Is there a better chance in a certain direction of how the leaf lays?
It usually does not make any difference how you lay the leaf down; the pup will come up toward the sun regardless once it emerges. That said, I usually lay mine right side up the way it is on the plant — and depending on the plant that could mean curve up or down, so I can’t answer that way. 🙂 Then, the roots head down naturally, and the pup emerges on top. But I’ve done it both ways without any noticeable effect outside of the inevitable failures here and there.
So sorry for the late reply, Stephen!
Echeveria agavoides can be propagated via a leaf ? Thank you.
Hi Daniel – if by some miracle you can get a full leaf off, I’d guess it would propagate. In my experience, I have never gotten a fully healthy leaf of E. agavoides. It’s so tightly embedded that each and every time I have attempted it, I can see that the tip is not truly clean-cut…which explains why I have yet to succeed with them. Gorgeous succulents, though — one of my favorites.
Sorry for the late reply! I just approved all comments today.
I have had success with a few types of Jelly beans (laying on top) however, I will say they have taken at lease 8 weeks to throw babies out…
Great article. Extremely informative. I has a question about what you were saying in regards to the mother leaf. I unfortunately have been watering my leaf cutting plantlets and it looks as though most them still have the mother leaf very alive and healthy. Should I plant these in their own pots and wait until the plant is good and stone before removing the mother leaf? Also I have a batch of jellybean varieties that have started to take root. Can I plant these before the have new plant gorwth by just sort of pressing them loosely into soil. I have a seed starting tray that I have been using for my plants.
Hi Bradon, sorry my reply is so late. I’ve been behind on life in general.
There’s no serious need to remove the mother leaf, and if it’s not aesthetically bothering you, I’d recommend keeping it on the baby rather than risking damage to the baby plant. But if it bothers you, you can snip off as much as you can grab of the mother and just toss the mother. I do not believe I have ever had a mother regrow a second baby after the first one, though you won’t hurt anything by trying.
What a thorough tutorial that would give anyone the tools to be successful as long as they are patient !
That was very helpful and informative. thank you!
Thanks for such a thorough and informative article. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences.
I just recently became interested in succulents and have a large platter of leaves that have sprung baby plants and/or roots. I had been wondering whether to take the individual babies and re-pot them separately or leave them on the tray, so your thoughts on this have been really helpful!
Really appreciate it, thanks for sharing!
Hello. How do you water the propagated leaves on top of perlite?–i mean, after watering the soil beneath for the first time. do you pour water at the sides of the tray so the perlite and the leaves won’t get wet? or you spray on top? or pour water on top? is it okay if the propagated leaves get wet? will it rot? how often do you water the propagated leaves? Thanks!
Ailyn, I don’t really water after that initial dampening of the soil (before laying perlite on top).. Once the leaf grows roots and I am repotting it on its own, then I’ll begin a watering regimen. My concept here by wetting the soil below is to attract roots to grow downward — and it’s not about giving them water, per se. Once they develop good enough roots, I carefully pull them out of the group pot with a lot of leaf cuttings, and pot them separately. From there, I will water them very occasionally — depending on the soil used. If I use a rocky/gritty soil as shown in my post, I’d water about once a week in normal 80 degree or so temps, maybe once more in a week if it’s much hotter. That part really depends on the plant.
I hope that helps. Key here is not watering your leaf cuttings, and by the time they need water — you will have repotted them.
Thanks for your advice Grace! I appreciate it.
For a newbie, this is the absolute best propogating advice article I’ve read. You’ve given so much information and practical advice, along with the great pictures,
I feel confident about trying to propagate succulents now!
I am in Africa. It is about to start our cold season. I have been propagating leaves for echeverias only for the past 2-3 month. I put them on top of the most horrible sand full of clay that when it dries turns into rocks, and I have let the leaves dry for two three days and just put them on top in full sun. Then I spray almost every day with a spray bottle, or water them some time. Most of them are rooted not (and they are many) but all by black price has healthy fresh mother leaves, and many babies, some other varieties the mother leaf has dried and I removed them. Some leaves I just stuck into ordinary garden soil and they also have plenty babies. Go figure. Had around 50% success so far. Now I am going to try your method he he he and see what happens. Had problems with purpusorum rotting. Now I shall keep it on top only.
I found that leaving the leaves in full sun actually make the babies appear much faster, than buried or in the shade. But that is for hard core echeverias like black prince. Also so far my observations about those huge frilly leaves are just drying if left on top. But all the ones I buried are looking good so far. Also the very thin leaves of painted echeveria are better off buried since they are so thin. What do you say? Is it my climate or what?
Neil, no doubt the ones in full sun do better — IF they will live. And everyone’s full sun is kind of different, though I imagine yours in Africa is stronger! 🙂
The risk with full sun, for me, is that they could just burn up and die before growing one root, never mind a pup. Some hardier varieties like Black Prince, as you noted, do fine under most situations. Other echeveria crumple up to a crisp and scream bloody murder before killing themselves. I find bright shade the most successful overall — and laid on top. I avoid burying only because I can’t see what’s happening, and if it should get moist, I can’t be sure it’s not rotting, and so forth. IN theory, though, burying should work perfectly, too. I don’t think it’s the laying on top that is successful, per se, but easiest to keep dry and ensure they’re not rotting.
Thanks for your post!
Great article! Forgive me if I overlooked this, but could you please shed some light on your gritty succulent soil recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Josh,
The gritty mix that I make is a stone of some sort (I use pea gravel or whatever roundish small stone I can source), perlite, and a lava rock of some sort, 1/4″ in size.
What you see in this photo is basically all it is. The perlite and lava rocks “store” some whatever in their rough outer surface that is grooved or pocketed, and the stones retain no water. I like it because none of it breaks down, and in theory, I can use this soil again and again until kingdom comes.
That said, I moved to Las Vegas recently, and am finding this soil absolutely necessitates that I water DAILY, and I’m not too keen on that in 117 degree weather. I may have to uproot everything and change to my potting soil mix, and if I do that, I’ll be sure to post an update. In the Bay Area, though, my houseplants all lived in this gritty mix indoors, and all of my succulents thrived in this outdoors.
Good luck!
Hi, I have a question Im propagating some succulent leave and a few of them only have roots but no pups is that normal? Thanks
Hi Mari,
It’s very normal. I have no idea what some do that and other don’t under the same conditions but some specific plants are more likely to throw roots but no pups. I’ve never had the patience to wait and see what becomes of it, though.
Most will always throw roots before pups, so don’t give up just yet. Though your comment was from May, so by now, you should know if they plan to produce actual babies.
Sorry for the late reply!
Hello! This was very helpful and informative, probably the most in depth guide I’ve read so far. I wanted to ask what type of brand you use for the soil? Do you make your own? If so where do you get the particles. Thanks!
Hi Estefania,
I like Pro-Mix HP. It’s harder to find in stores, so I order mine online at Amazon.
You can find it here: http://amzn.to/2ulSCX8
The perlite I use is this one — enormous bag, but it’s so light and never expires: http://amzn.to/2ulBAYR
This, mixed in with some extra perlite on top, is fantastic.
Once they root and I pot them up, though, I use a homemade gritty mix, a variation of the original.
I hope to post about that one day soon. 🙂
Thank you, Grace for the great advice. I’m eager to make first attempt at propagating succulents with leaf cuttings.
Should the prepared tray of cuttings be placed outdoors? I live in Michigan and would like to know what the light requirements are at the start, and is it likely that the new plants would winter over? Thank you!
Hi Linda, sorry for the delayed reply. I’ve been swamped lately with a lot of life changes! 🙂
I’d choose a really bright shade spot, protected from winds, etc. A nice bright spot on a covered patio works well, or under a shady tree in bright sun. In MI, once it gets to be fall, I’d bring them all inside and find THE BRIGHTEST WINDOW possible. As long as your home is not freezing, I imagine they’d do fine as long as you find them light, or buy an indoor plant light for them to slowly grow over winter.
Hope that helps!
Hi Grace, I found your information on rooting succulents to be quite helpful. That is one plant group I am still learning about. However I do have a question regarding light/temperature during the rooting period. I live in central Texas and that is hot! 100 degrees is common at this time of year, with 16 hours of daylight in a full sun location. In my experimenting so far, this is just too much heat or light. Is it better to keep them indoors while developing roots? Some direct sun, no direct sun ? What is your recommendation ?
Hi Heather, sorry for the late reply!
I understand hot. I live in Las Vegas now. WTH is that outside, though our humidity is so much lower than TX.
If you have a nice southern or eastern window, I’d opt for that over the intense heat. I keep my house in Las Vegas at about 80 and in an eastern window, leaves seem to enjoy forming new life just fine. Depending on the varietal, they will eventually need to find a home outside, or can forever live on a windowsill indoors. What are you trying to root?
Hi, Grace! I’m a young (gardening) grasshopper living in Vegas, and I initially found you on Gardenweb before stumbling upon your SF Food page while searching for gritty mix! I’m so happy to have found another gardener (though, you’re much more experienced :)) who used a variation of gritty mix and has a passion for food and photography! How are you doing with your plants now? Are you still using the gritty mix? I saw that you were thinking about switching to potting mix due to our hot & dry climate here.. hope to connect with you further and have a cool day ❄️ p.s: I’m Korean, too!
p.p.s: I tried sending the message on Facebook, but Facebook is weird with messaging non-friends..
Glad we got in touch, Naeun!
Hi thanks for te article! I have bought a leaf off an echeveria Romeo and it has been on top of soil for a month and the base has scabed over. The leaf is still alive. Do you have any recommendations on how to get the roots to come?
Hi Sarah,
Sorry – no real advice on coercing deadbeat leaves to throw roots. 🙂 Do you have it indoors or out? Sun or dark area?
I suppose I would mess with those factors on a monthly basis to see if something works. Of course, even if something works, it could just be that the leaf decided it was time!
Thanks for a great tutorial! I’m propagating for my son’s wedding centerpieces. It is in 11 months so am trying to get a variety of types and various sizes of babies. About how long does it take for pups to get to be about 2 inches? Also, I have some succulents that are shooting out a lot of long “roots” all along the upright stem. I don’t know if these are really roots and what I should do with them. The stem is fairly leggy and these roots are about 2″ long. I have more than 150 plants,including pups, that I’m working on propagating.
Hi Karen,
What a great effort that is for your son’s wedding!
How long it takes would depend entirely on which succulent variety you’re trying to propagate. Not only do some root easier, but then some grow faster on the top after rooting, so two inches is possible for some whereas others will take eons.
I’ve heard/read that the aerial roots are when the plant is in need of more water at the roots. If the roots below lack water or are otherwise unhealthy, other leaves on part of the stem will shoot off roots in search of water. In my personal experience, I’ve not been able to prove this, so I’m thinking it’s speculation, but who knows? I’ve had two different cuttings from the same plant in the same exact soil, potted up at the same time, and one grew aerial roots whereas the other never did, so…
Just make sure that you shoot to over-propagate the number of cuttings in your case, preparing for a good 15-20% failure rate, even through no fault of your own.
I absolutely love you. I am so happy that I found your page. I came across it through Pinterest. I too am a beginner gardener on indoor succulents. I have had for many years had the outdoor Hens and chickens. So I am starting to try my hand at indoor propogation. Your article is the best that I have came across. So detailed and informative. Thank you so much for all your information. With these tips I am sure to be a success.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Carol! I hope you enjoy the experience of indoor growing. Personally, while there is a lot of fun to be had outdoors with seeds and flowering plants, I love my indoor plants the most. And lucky for me, now living in Nevada, I can grow virtually everything on a sunny windowsill.
Holler if you run into any problems!
This is a great article and I am so happy you address some problems I’ve had in the past. However, I have a new problem. I have several little babies going right now and there is an entire group of them that grew a few millimeters and then stopped. They are not dead, they are still healthy looking and their roots are still white. They have been the same size for at least 4 months.
I was wondering if you may know what caused this or know how to get them on the right track.
Amy help is appreciated, thanks!
I recently started a succulent addiction (there’s no other word for it!) and I absolutely love how detailed and informative this article is! I’ve been trying to propagate a few Echeverias, Sedums and Jades from leaf cuttings, hope this new method will help. I live in India and I think they should so quite well here. Will holler at you in case I run into any problems with the propagation. Keep up the great work and thank you for this article!
– Rinky
Hello! I have a plant that I’m trying to propagate. It was given to me by my grandma, and it was in dirt that was holding water, so had rot on the bottom and the plant itself was very stretched from lack of light. I trimmed the top last night (which now only has four leaves), and removed healthy looking leaves from the bottom. Almost all of the leaves are slightly smooshy this morning. So I’m wondering if they are dying? Is there any way to save it?
What did you do with the cutting once you took it off the original plant?
Did you save the tops you trimmed, Meghan? That’s the part you’d want to propagate, be it from leaves or cuttings.
If the leaves you plucked off are mushy, they are probably goners. But no harm in waiting it out.
Hi, i pulled some baby pups off the mother leaf before roots were formed and potted them up. Will they survive?
I am barely getting into propagating succulents and I’m really interested. This article was super informative but i do have some questions. About how long does it take for a succulent to grow from a leaf cutting? How long does it take for a beheaded stem to grow a new rosette?
Jojo, that depends entirely on the variety. Things like Graptopetalum paraguayense produce a pup rapidly and grow rapidly. Others, especially some echeverias, can seem to live as leaves for months without doing a thing. Those usually remain slow even after producing a pup/roots but in all cases, they do better/faster in good light and warmth.
Hi there, I am interested to know once you have potted your succulents where do you keep them? Inside or outside? It is winter in Aus at the moment and I have been keeping my baby succulents in the shed and bringing them out when sunny. Is this what I should be doing or is it ok to keep them outside? Not sure if it is too cold for them.
Thanks so much.
Alison
Hi Alison, sorry my reply is so delayed!
FYI, you can keep your succulents outdoors down to 30F safely, so long as they are kept quite dry. Don’t water often, if at all, during the winter. But note that the cooler it is, the slower it will grow. So if you have sunny windowsills indoors in warmer temps, that is preferable, but they can be kept outdoors down to 30F.
I abolutely loved reading this! I also learned a lot. I’m looking forwared to your next one. What is your opinion on the best store to purchase onlline? We don’t have many options where I live.
Thank you,
Shannan
Hi Grace,
Thank you for this amazing, detailed and very thorough article. I have lost track of how many articles i have read and how many videos i’ve watched, only to learn 3/4 of what you’ve covered.
The only thing i felt was missing is root health.
I started root propagation in water (without direct contact) a month ago of debbie and von nuremburg. Beautiful pink roots appeared as early as day 10. Now theyre nice and long. However, out of 15 leaves, 3 have grown white fuzz. Im unclear as to whether it is mould or not. 1 week later, half of the roots on those leaves are turning brown.
Are they rotting?
Can i save them?
Will tjey infect the others?
Should i lay them on soil?
I appreciate any advice you can give!
Thank you in advance!!
Hi Grace! Which gritty mix do you use or if you make our own, do you mind sharing the “recipe” with us? Thank you!!!
Hi Taylor,
For succulents, I tend to make a pretty big chunk gritty mix. I like 1/4” lava rocks, similarly sized pea gravel and some pumice (or perlite) if you don’t have access to pumice. Unless you live in a very arid area, that mix works nicely for succulents. The key is to keep the component sizes similar so as not to have huge pieces and small pieces mixed together.
Thank you for this wonderfully detailed and illustrated guide! Your article and the accompanying photos are so helpful!
I just received 6″-18″ sedum stems (including Briiliant) from a garden where some of the stems toppled over and detached from the main plants. While in situ, 1/2″ rosettes have spontaneously grown all along them stems in 1″ intervals, facing all different directions, sometimes directly opposite to each other. The rosettes have no roots, and there are no mother plant leaves on the stems. How should I continue this propagation? At what point should I be cutting up the stems? And how should I separate the rosettes that are opposite to each other (?hlve the stem vertically?)?
I could send a pic, if you like.
Thank you!
Hi Linda, I think I know what you are talking about. In cases like this, you can either remove some rosettes to expose some stem and plant it vertically like a tree with the exposed stem under the soil, OR you can lay it flat. With time, each rosette will throw its own roots into the medium and either grow right there or fall off.
Hope that helps!
I loved the information on this page. I know your last response was in 2018 but I was curious if you are still working with succulents as I had a few questions I have encountered on my 4 year path to learning how to propagate, grow, and care for my succulents!!
Hi Jen, I don’t come by this site often but I’m still gardening. What questions did you have?
Hi Grace, thank you for such a detailed write up!
I own just one precious portulaca molokiniensis and I’m sad to say that it has succumbed to some kind of rot as many of the leaves turned yellow then black and eventually dropped off. The main stem base also turned black and was somewhat soggy. Therefore, I cut off and kept whatever other stems that looked a healthy green at the cross section and am currently laying it out on a plate waiting for the cut ends to callus.
Would you have any idea how long I callus them for? And although these are stem cuttings, can I still follow what you did with the beheaded rosette top?
I plan to root it (after callusing) into general gardening soil with perlite and vermiculite added into the mix. Fresh soil typically comes slightly moist already so I was wondering if this would be suitable since you mentioned that the soil should be dry when encouraging rooting.
I’m really struggling as this succulent type seems to be sensitive to even small amounts of overwatering. Any advice from you would be really helpful and greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time!
Hi Pamela,
Just let the soil dry out while you callus the stem. If it’s already prone to rot, the cuttings may not be completely clear of rot even if not necessarily visible to the eye.
I’d skip the vermiculite altogether (that retains water) and stick to just perlite though, until it’s well-rooted. Just balance the stem into a pot of screened perlite (like shake out all the small bits of perlite through a colander) and let it root in there. That way you can also easily pull it up to examine in a few weeks.
With Portulaca molokiniensis, I find that they need a lot of sun. They aren’t overly sensitive to water compared to other succulents, but need a lot of sun (which leads to lots of energy which ends up having the roots use up water more efficiently). “Overwatering” can be watering too often, sure — but more accurately, it’s when the plant cannot use up the water available to it in a quick manner and it ends up rotting in wet medium.
Hope that helps!